Drumcode at Transmission, Albert Hall

Last Friday Drumcode made their highly anticipated debut performance at the wondrous Albert Hall. Leading the charge into the Chapel was Drumcode’s head honcho Adam Beyer, with an all-star line-up. Performances from Scuba, Dense and Pika and an on-fire Alan Fitzpatrick ravaged the opulent looking Albert Hall for 8 hours solid.

Opening the proceedings were UK duo Dense and Pika. As people streamed in from the cold January air, they hopped on board a journey of dark musical twists and turns. The maestros unearthed an unpredictable array of door-slamming bass thumps and alluring percussion riffs. The night wore on but just as their set was to come to an end the undertones of crowd favourite ‘Colt’ began to creep through in the depths, mixed exquisitely to offer the crowd a few peaking moments before taking a satisfying turn back to the smooth, deep, nostalgic sounds of a Colt’s piano riff. It really did set the whole room alight. Bravo indeed.

Next up, a man who needs no introduction, British born and Berlin based Scuba took the reins and continued to batter the innards of the Coliseum type dome of the Albert Hall. The Hotflush commander took steer of the crowd as he blasted us with an array of thumping techno bullets which warped into crescendos of more imposing melodies, featuring the likes of Mind Against and Locked Groove’s, ‘Elysium.’

Then at 2am the crowd began surging, displaying zero levels of fatigue as they hotly awaited the arrival of Swedish techno king, Adam Beyer. Strobes illuminated up the dark cavernous hall interior, lights bounced around the room from wall to wall and the infamous and beastly Drumcode signature kick drum pulsated through the crowd. The Drumcode kingpin unleashed a barrage of new Drumcode material and old as he dropped, arguably 2014’s top techno producer, Sam Paganini’s Rave. The inexorable melody whipped the crowd into frenzy as the symphony of noise and carefully crafted synthetic waves throbbed all night in the background.

The night continued to peak and peak as the rolling bass lines of Alan Fitzpatrick began at 5am. After an incredibly successful 2014, Fitzpatrick picked up and unloaded a barrel of pounding Techno, mixed as it is always with him, to push and pull the crowd to the dying end. Music lovers united, the scene roared on until 6am.

All in all, a fantastic evening at arguably Manchester’s best underground clubbing venue and a very successful first date for Drumcode and the Albert Hall.